Demi vs Bullying

Growing up, Demi revealed that she was bullied in school. She was bullied so much, that she dropped out of school to be home-schooled. Demi earned a high school diploma through home-schooling in April 2009. Within the same year, she became a spokesperson for PACER, an anti-bullying organization. She also appeared on America’s Next Top Model to speak out against bullying. Because she was a target of bullying, Demi knew how important it was to be a vocal supporter of bullying prevention. In an interview with People Magazine Demi said, “I had a really tough time when I was in middle school. People would write 'hate petitions' about me and send them around to be signed. They'd have CD-bashing parties of my demos. They'd come to my house, stand across the street and yell things. It was a very emotional time for me, and all I wanted to do was get away.” Check out this video of Demi expressing her past:

Demi has used her negative experience from bullying to make positive changes. She has constantly used her celebrity status to get her voice heard about the major issue of bullying. According to a study by The National Association of School Psychologists and the U.S. Dept. of Justice, 160,000 kids of all ages stay home from school everyday to avoid the stress that comes from being confronted by a bully. Throughout her time on the PACER campaign, Demi said, “Working together we can make a difference. I hope that by sharing my story, it will encourage other teens to speak out. No one deserves to be bullied.” Demi hopes that her involvement in the anti-bullying campaign will help other teenagers come forth about being bullied.

In October 2012, Demi was named the new Ambassador of Mean Stinks, an anti-bullying campaign focused on eliminating bullying among girls. When she found out what the program was about, Demi agreed to be a part of it. The program is really trying to put an end to bullying. The program asked young girls to take a pledge to have a “Drama Free School Year” by making a pinky swear, symbolized by wearing blue nail polish on their pinky fingers. Demi herself took this pledge. Here is her video for the Mean Stinks campaign: